A Peek Into The Markets: US Stock Futures Up; Alphabet, Amazon Report Upbeat Earnings

Pre-open movers

U.S. stock futures traded higher in early pre-market trade after the Dow Jones added 475 points in the previous session. Investors are awaiting earnings reports from Humana Inc HUM and Paypal Holdings Inc PYPL, Metlife Inc MET, Biogen Inc BIIB and eBay Inc. EBAY.

The ADP’s national employment report for January will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET. US Services Purchasing Managers' Index for January is scheduled for release at 9:45 a.m. ET, while the ISM's services index for January will be released at 10:00 a.m. ET. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari is set to speak at 8:30 a.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker is set to speak at 2:00 p.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester will speak at 5:00 p.m. ET. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans is set to speak at 5:00 p.m. ET, while Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 42 points to 30,628.00 while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures traded rose 13.75 points to 3,832.00. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index surged 84.50 points to 13,533.50.

The U.S. has the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the world, with total infections in the country exceeding 26,435,550 with around 446,880 deaths. India reported a total of at least 10,777,280 confirmed cases, while Brazil confirmed over 9,283,410 cases.

Oil prices traded higher as Brent crude futures rose 1.1% to trade at $58.11 per barrel, while US WTI crude futures rose 0.9% to trade at $55.24 a barrel. Crude oil inventories dropped 4.261 million barrels for the week ending January 29, the American Petroleum Institute reported. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on petroleum inventories in the U.S. is scheduled for release at 10:30 a.m. ET.

A Peek Into Global Markets

European markets were higher today. The Spanish Ibex Index rose 0.7% and STOXX Europe 600 Index climbed 0.6%. The French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.3%, German DAX 30 gained 0.5% while London's FTSE 100 rose 0.3%. Annual inflation rate in the Eurozone increased to 0.9% in January, while producer prices rose 0.8% in December. The IHS Markit Eurozone services PMI rose to 45.4 in January versus a preliminary estimate of 45. UK services PMI declined to 39.5 in January from 49.4 in December.

Asian markets traded mostly higher today. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1%, China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.46% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.2%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9%, while India’s BSE Sensex surged 0.9%. India’s services PMI rose to 52.8 in January from 52.3 in the earlier month, while China’s general services PMI fell to a nine-month low level of 52.0 in January. Japan’s services PMI slipped to 46.1 in January from a final reading of 47.2 in December, while Australia’s services index fell to 55.6 points in January versus 57.0 in December.

Broker Recommendation

KeyBanc maintained Alphabet Inc GOOGL with an Overweight and raised the price target from $2060 to $2353.

Alphabet shares rose 7.5% to $2,062.05 in pre-market trading.

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Breaking News

• Alphabet Inc GOOGL reported better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.
• Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN reported upbeat earnings for its fourth quarter and announced Jeff Bezos will transition to the role of executive chair in the third quarter. Andy Jassy will take over as the new CEO of the company.
• GlaxoSmithKline Plc GSK and CureVac BV CVAC announced plans to work together in a €150 million collaboration for the development of a new generation of COVID-19 vaccines to tackle emerging variants of the virus.
• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR BABA is looking to raise $5 billion by selling dollar-denominated bonds this week, Reuters reported. The company also reported upbeat quarterly earnings on Tuesday.

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